Who should we give credit for considering the possibility of Black Hole?

In summary, John Michell was the first person to suggest that if there was an object with 500 times the radius of the sun, but with the sun's average density, then its escape velocity would be faster than the speed of light.
  • #1
avito009
184
4
General Relativity predicted existence of Black holes. The theory of general relativity predicts that a sufficiently compact mass will deform spacetime to form a black hole. But The Chandrasekhar limit is the maximum mass of a stable white dwarf star. White dwarfs with masses greater than the limit undergo further gravitational collapse, evolving into a different type of stellar remnant, such as a neutron star or black hole. This limit was initially ignored by the community of scientists because such a limit would logically require the existence of black holes, which were considered a scientific impossibility at the time.

So who should we give credit for being able to consider the possibility of Black Hole Einstein or Chandrasekhar or
John Michell in 1783 (Much before Einstein or Chandrasekhar)?

Since Michell suggested that if there were an object with 500 times the radius of the sun, but with the sun’s average density, then its escape velocity would be faster than the speed of light.
 
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  • #2
The existence of the Chandrasekhar limit does not imply black holes. As you even stated in your post, a neutron star might form if the stellar remnant exceeds the Chandrasekhar limit. The limit for neutron stars is the Tolman-Oppenheimer-Volkov limit.

However, this question is not a physics question, but a history of science question. Who we "should" give credit to for "considering the possibility of a black hole" I think is not important. I think it's sufficient to know that Chandrasekhar came up with a limiting mass for a white dwarf, and that Einstein came up with General Relativity, and that's enough. If you asked me personally to pick somebody, I would probably pick Schwarzschild.
 
  • #4
John Mitchell is a good choice, but, the speed of light was not known with much precision in the 18th century. It would be fair to say Mitchell was the first to recongnize the possibility of black holes.
 
  • #5
afaik Michell is generally credited, along with Pierre-Simon Laplace, with the earliest articulation of the ideas behind black hole physics.
i.e. http://hubblesite.org/explore_astronomy/black_holes/encyc_mod3_q1.html


I think way too much time and energy is wasted on asserting the various "who did it first" claims.
We can safely leave it to the historians and concentrate on the, you know, science.
 
  • #6
I agree, Simon, but, you must admit it makes for interesting discussion.
 
  • #7
Consider: "how little physics do you need to know about in order to understand black holes?"

You see from the above that there were enough ideas floating around in the late 1700's that we could probably explain black hole physics to them [at least the top mathemticians and physicists] fairly quickly.

More immediately, it gives us a clue about how early we can introduce students to advanced concepts.
[i.e. We can introduce black holes, carefully, at secondary school level. This is way before tensor calculus, but we have to wait until after Newtonian gravitation and the concept of the escape velocity.]

I'll submit: that's an interesting and useful thing to think about.

The point of above is to encourage you (and others) to say, not only that something is "interesting", but to support that observation: why is it interesting? What is it about the topic that holds your attention? How about: in the context of these forums?
 

1. Who is credited with first considering the possibility of Black Holes?

The concept of Black Holes was first proposed by the English scientist John Michell in 1783. However, it was not until 1916 that the theory of general relativity by Albert Einstein provided a mathematical framework for the existence of Black Holes.

2. What role did Karl Schwarzschild play in the discovery of Black Holes?

Karl Schwarzschild, a German physicist, was the first to solve Einstein's equations and obtain a solution that described the behavior of massive objects with extremely strong gravitational fields, which we now know as Black Holes. His work paved the way for further research and understanding of these objects.

3. Did Stephen Hawking contribute to our understanding of Black Holes?

Yes, Stephen Hawking's work on black hole thermodynamics and his theory of Hawking radiation significantly advanced our understanding of black holes. He also proposed the concept of information loss in black holes, which is still a topic of debate among scientists.

4. Is it possible that someone else may have considered the possibility of Black Holes before John Michell?

It is possible that other scientists may have thought about the concept of Black Holes before John Michell. However, Michell's work is the first recorded instance of someone suggesting the existence of objects with such strong gravitational pull that even light cannot escape from them.

5. How do we know that Black Holes actually exist?

While we cannot directly observe Black Holes, there is a vast amount of evidence that supports their existence. This includes observations of the effects of their strong gravitational pull on surrounding matter, such as the distortion of light and the movement of stars in galactic centers. Additionally, the recent detection of gravitational waves from the collision of two Black Holes further confirms their existence.

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